Pages

October 8, 2015

12 Weeks of Christmas- Week One

The 12 Weeks of
Christmas is a weekly series on Just Take Two Bites to help you prepare for a
busy holiday season with as little stress as possible. This is a guide to
assist you in planning all of your holiday traditions in advance so that you
can have the most joyful holiday yet!

Can you believe that Christmas is a mere 12 weeks away?

Let’s let that settle
in for just a moment…

It seems like every single year, I say that I am going to
carefully plan out what I need to do to get ready for Christmas so reduce the
amount of chaos that occurs on the last few days before Christmas Eve.

While I have gotten much better than in years past
(Christmas shopping on December 24th, anyone?) I have decided to
embark on the 12 Weeks of Christmas countdown to help me with my planning, and
I’d love to take you along with me!

By starting out early, together we will get our homes ready
for the hustle and bustle of this busy time of year. My hope is that you and I
can keep as much stress away from what should be the most exciting, happiest
time of year. Instead, we will have our activities planned out, our gifts
purchased and wrapped, and our freezers will be full of yummy Christmas goodies
to enjoy.

So follow along and plan out your holiday season with me
during the 12 Weeks of Christmas blog series here on Just Take Two Bites!

Week One: Develop a Game Plan

On week one, we will sit down and plan out everything we
want to do in the weeks before the holiday season. This is the time to sit down
with a sheet of paper and map out your master to-do list. Keep in mind that
this is just a first draft of your guide. You may discover that there are a
number of things you will need to add or remove in order to make your list more
achievable.

My list looks something like this:

·Plan holiday photo shoot

·Make gift list

·Look for new Christmas cookie recipes

·Plan out service projects

·Check Pinterest for craft projects to do with
the children

·Develop a Christmas menu

·Shop

·Decorate

These are only a few items on my list. By writing everything
down, you will quickly be able to see whether or not you are planning too much.
When you are making your master to-do list, keep in mind all of your regular
everyday activities. Will such a large to-do list prevent you from living your
daily life without stress?Allow
yourself to do just enough that the season is special while maintaining your
overall stress level.

Make a Christmas Planning Binder

If you are super organized (or hope to be), you may want to
develop a Christmas Planning Binder. Your binder can be as detailed or as
simple as you would like. The goal is to have all of your planning and ideas in
one place so that you can easily access them.

To keep your binder nice and organized, you can purchase
some inexpensive dividers and label them with all the different categories
based on your master to-do list. Some examples of categories may include:

·Gift list

·Menu and recipe ideas

·Tradition ideas

·Cookies

·Event and activity information

·Decorating ideas

Also place some page protectors in your binder to store
recipes printed online or your to-do list. Your binder does not have to be
anything fancy or overly expensive; it just needs to be functional. The goal is
to be organized, not spend hours designing a binder.

So that’s week one! Are you excited for the holidays yet? I
know I am! Come back next week for week 2 of our 12 Weeks of Christmas series
where I will talk about our budgeting for the holiday season.